Desktop Security Software Risks – Part 2

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Desktop Security Software Risks – Part 2
 by: Tim Klemmer

This is the third in a sequence of articles highlighting explanation why we want a brand new model for anti-virus and security solutions.

Reason #2: the Desktop Security Software Risks

The risks of placing software at the desktop are such that i’ll be breaking this newsletter into two parts.

There are many advantages to putting security and anti-virus software at the desktop. They vary from efficiency to money. Under previous ways of thinking if i’m able to capture security and virus problems on the desktop i’m able to prevent them from going any farther. That works well in a non-connected environment. Within the connected environment it makes more sense to centralize the software and monitor connections out and in. Basically “firewall” all of the appliances from one another.

In a prior article we discussed the safety risks inherent with desktop software designed to be the safety layer between you and all those bad people accessible on the web. Here now we are able to discuss some more mundane issues concerning the risks of putting security software at the desktop:

Drag

Drag steals clock-cycles out of your processes in order that it might run in a much better priority mode. Anti-virus software especially places a drag in your computer. Counting on your settings (and the default settings are frequently very aggressive), each time you run a program or open a file, real-time file scanning occurs and your files are scanned for viruses. This slows down your processing. Accessing larger files takes longer. You will see a discernible lag time between in the event you start a program/open a file and in the event you can actually access it.

Compatibility

After the most obvious issue of “drag” is compatibility. Often security and anti-virus rules get within the way of your doing business in your computer. Whilst you may escape with using older versions of such packages as Word, Sims, Photoshop, etc. in your computer with the recent XP operating system, it’s unlikely your security software could be completely compatible. Why? Many packages rely upon very low-level functionality so that you could do the tasks they got down to do. Anti-virus packages should be ready to operate at a degree in the direction of the hardware than most packages. They should try this to stop virus software from taking precedence from them. While many packages offer backward-compatibility the other is just not true: forward-compatibility. There are several reasons for this: a package written for Windows 98 is not going to anticipate all of the changes to the operating system which are implemented for Windows XP. While your Win98 anti-virus program may fit under XP, it won’t work at its peak performance. It can’t. It’s just another excuse for centralizing your security. By siphoning your whole traffic through a safety screen at your ISP, for example, you offload the desire for updates and staying up-to-date in your security software. This then becomes the job of the agency.

Updates

Having the software in your desktop means you might be answerable for maintaining that software. Relating to office productivity software or image editing software, if new versions pop out with features you are not involved in, you do not update. With new viruses appearing at the landscape every single day, you cannot afford to not continually update your software. For those who don’t update for a month or two, you run severe risks of infection. You furthermore may will incur potential long update cycles as your software must be upgraded to address all of the new threats.

This makes the desktop at the moment a somewhat ineffective solution. Nearly two-thirds of all of the PCs which have anti-virus protection installed don’t update their definitions regularly. These PCs might to boot uninstthe whole software for all the good it’s doing them.

Lost Time

As mentioned inside the above discussion, you’re able to lose considerable time in case you don’t update regularly. Long intervals between updates can translate into long update cycles. If in case you have a slow connection to a vendor, your down time is far longer as you’ll want to watch for the files to be downloaded after which you must look forward to your software to update itself.

Solution

The better solution is to head to a centralized solution during which the entire software, all of the updates are the responsibility of the agency. You pay for the service of getting your email cleaned before you receive it. When email arrives at your service provider’s mailbox, it really is checked for malicious tendencies and stripped if bad. You spot no long waiting, no downtime, no drag, no incompatibilities.

This article was posted on December 7, 24

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